5 AgTech CEOs You Should Know

1. Jesse Vollmar, Farmlogs

This 25 year-old was recently named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30. Vollmar is no stranger to farm life, having grown up on a farm in Michigan. In 2012, he and partner Brad Koch started FarmLogs, a mobile-based data-syndication platform that organizes info about weather, crops, inventory, budget components and more. In January, the company announced it raised $4 million in a Series A, and Vollmar says that’s just the beginning.

“We want to then model out the cost of production for farmers in a couple of clicks….We’re computer scientists. We’re hackers. This is how we approach problems. Big companies take more dated approaches to solving these problems.” –Vollmar in IBT interview

2. Jorge Heraud, Blue River Technology

Jorge Heraud founded Blue River Technology with fellow Standford-almun, Lee Redden, in 2011. Heraud’s vision is simple: “to make every plant count.” By using advanced computer vision and robotics, Blue River Technology is a prime example of a precision agriculture company. And, they’ve convinced investors. Just this month, they announced their $10 million Series A, which included lead investor Data Collective Venture Capital, and Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors and Khosla Ventures.

“I remember many of the farmers I first talked with about auto steer thought I was talking Star Wars – it’s tremendously satisfying to see that technology come to market and become standard.” -Heraud in Precision Ag

“By 2050, farmers will be tasked to produce 70% more food than they do today to sustain the growing world population. This is a daunting challenge that modern agricultural technology must rise up to meet.” -Gal in Reuters

4. Ethan Brown, Beyond Meat

Ethan Brown is the founder of of the Bill Gates-backed startup, Beyond Meat. Brown founded the company after wondering, “Would we continue to raise and eat animals in such staggering numbers if a delicious and perfect plant-based replication of meat existed?” Today, Beyond Meat is a leader in plant-protein technology and products. The company already has it’s products in mainstream food markets such as WholeFoods, Publix, H-E-B and more. One of the company’s missions is to complete its “25/20 Vision,” which means, they’d like to reduce the global meat consumption by 25% by 2020.

“I really encourage our employees and myself around this mantra, “We’re trying to make life better. Make sure you enjoy yours in the process.” -Brown in Fortune

Editor’s Pick

Rob Leclerc, Founding Partner at AgFunder, will be participating in the online conference Virtual Summit on AgTech next week alongside alternative meat leaders such as Ethan Brown from Beyond Meat. Read more →

Startup Corner

Every accelerator participant will receive a convertible note of €100k for participating in the program, and Rockstart can invest up-to €2 million in those it supports into later stage alongside investor partners. Read more →

Technology Corner

The duo is hoping to smash one of the biggest barriers to biologics adoption by providing farmers with a way to cultivate living microbial inputs on the farm that cannot survive in the current supply chain without cold storage. Read more →